1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to the field of transferring patients from one surface to another, and more particularly to a system for aiding in the transfer of a patient from one support surface to another such as from a gurney to a hospital bed and visa versa.
2. Description of the Related Art
Patients are often transferred from one surface to another surface in medical facilities such as hospitals, clinics and surgery centers. For an operation, the patient is transported on a gurney, requiring a transfer from the hospital bed to the gurney and from the gurney to an operating table and vice versa when the operation is complete. Moving the patient from one surface to another is a difficult task because of the weight and bulk of the patient and the height of the surfaces which don't permit the medical staff to bend their knees to lift the patient, thereby creating severe stress on their backs and other joints and muscles, often leading to serious injuries of the medical staff. This problem is amplified when bariatric patients are involved, where the patient may weigh 400 to 800 pounds or more.
Presently, a patient may be transferred by a practice of placing a heavy-duty sheet under the patient by “log-rolling” the patient to his or her side, placing the sheet underneath the patient, rolling the patient to his or her back and then several medical staff members lifting the patient via the sheet to move the patient from one surface to another. For bariatric patients, often six or more medical staff are often required and many times, injuries occur. Injuries to interns, nurses and other medical staff are very costly to hospitals, surgery centers and the like.
Many ways have been devised to transfer patients from one surface to another. One such device is described in U.S. Pat. No. 6,484,332 to Korver, et al. and is hereby incorporated by reference. This device requires the patient be situated on a patient positioning board; but there is no way for a patient, especially a sedated bariatric patient, to be moved off the positioning board and onto a bed.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,937,456 to Norris is hereby incorporated by reference. This patent describes a device that has a series of conveyor belts. The patient must be log-rolled to his or her side, the conveyor positioned next to the patient, then the patient rolled onto the conveyor belt.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,378,148 to Votel is hereby incorporated by reference. This patent describes a system with a transfer caddy and has a sheet-like material that the patient must be positioned upon, requiring log-rolling the patient in order to position the sheet-like material under the patient. Once positioned on the sheet-like material, the patient is pulled onto the destination surface.
U.S. Pat. Publication No. 2007/0056095 to Scordato describes a patient transfer system that uses straps that pass beneath the patient and attach to a buffer cushion. The buffer cushion then pushes the patient from one surface to another surface in response to a winch pulling the straps. This system works well but the patient provides considerable resistance to being pulled across the surfaces that the present invention addresses. This patent application is hereby incorporated by reference.
What is needed is a system that will transfer a patient from one surface to another without placing undo stress on the caregivers and without resulting in undo discomfort to the patient.